458 THE ECUMENICAL REVIEW

specialists in different fields have shared their experiences, and this has brought about a sense of solidarity and inter-Nordic unity.

What this solidarity means for the solution of grave social problems was experienced during the second World War when tens of thousands of Finnish children threatened by war were taken into Swedish and Danish homes, and the total population of Finnish Lapland could be evacuated to northern Sweden and so escaped the devastations of warfare.

These inter-Nordic relations have led to the conclusion of a con- siderable number of conventions, sometimes bilateral, sometimes multi- lateral, including all five members of the group. These conventions include such services as poor relief, sickness insurance, old age and disability benefits, labour exchanges, and so forth. A high degree of coordination in the programmes and services has been borne in mind, but the main goal has not been complete uniformity. The Northern countries have aimed at developing an integrated area of social policy within which their citizens may move about and live and work, while enjoying equal treatment regardless of nationality.

The Northern countries of Europe have here been cited as an example of coordination of social services. Their co-operation is not unique in the world. Yet the positive achievements of cooperation within this homogeneous group of small nations is a stimulus for further develop- ment of international co-operation on a broader basis within world-wide organisations, such as the United Nations and the International Labour Organisation. The task is not an easy one. It requires time and patience. Yet, what we need, above all is faith to overcome obstacles and to fulfil our duties as Christians in the family of nations. This task is a challenge to the Christian churches. Are we, as Christians, invidually and as churches, ready to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to

. please ourselves ?

RACE TENSIONS : IS A NEW APPROACH POSSIBLE?

bY MAURICE WEBB

Not even idle hands give to Satan such opportunities for making mischief as “race” and nationalism; and when they dance together there must be horrid glee in Hell.

RACE TENSIONS : IS A NEW APPROACH POSSIBLE? 459

When feelings of “race” and nationality run wild even Christians get bowled over, yet to the Christian these things are irrelevant, for his concern is with the souls of men and their individual personality.

As a South African I am naturally concerned for the good name of my country and deplore the fact that it has become a whipping-boy whenever the question of “race” is raised. I want us to get out of the whipping-boy r6le and into good relations with the world. Like many South Africans I am opposed to the political policy called Apartheid and believe that in adopting it we moved in the wrong direction, that sooner or later the pressure of economic fact and the workings of con- science will cause us to retrace our steps.

Countries to-day have become like villagers whose neighbours know more of their lives than they know themselves. Even iron curtains have holes. In this situation where all nations are exposed to the public gaze and public criticism, it would be well if it were remembered that neither scoldings at UN nor economic sanctions by the Government of India will change South Africa’s policies, but they can and do embitter its international relations. It is a little odd that at a time when scoldings and punishment have gone out of favour for children it is thought right to use them towards nations.

Faced with problems of international tensions the CCIA attempts to follow the good practice of first studying the facts of a situation and then enlisting the active help of the churches in working for a solution. Perhaps situations of “race” tension might be approached in the same way. There is a great need for more knowledge and understanding of racial difficulties and for Christian witness and conviction to be brought to bear on them.

The United Nations tried to obtain some light, as a change from heat, by appointing the Commission on the Racial Situation in South Africa. The obvious trouble with this was that it was directed speci- fically towards South Africa: in a company of nations some were to sit in judgment on one of them. If the Commission served no other purpose it has shown how not to approach difficult inter-racial/interna- tional situations. An objective co-operative study of multi-racial societies might, however, do good.

We are all much in the dark regarding the many and complex prob- lems that arise when people of different “race” live side by side, and too apt to think that these problems can be solved by slogans or easy generalisations, or that they are due to human cussednes or wickedness that can be changed by just “telling him not to.”

There is in South Africa a widespread belief that our attitudes and actions are attributable to the ratio of 4 non-white to 1 white in the

460 THE ECUMENICAL REVIEW

population. Our Prime Minister was recently reported to have told an audience of Americans that if there were 4 negroes to every white in the United States, American policy with regard to “race” would be the same as ours.

In the countries of this part of Africa the ratio of non-white to white is, roughly:

Union of South Africa . . 4 to 1 Southern Rhodesia . . . . 14 to 1 Northern Rhodesia . . . . 36 to 1 Swaziland . . . . . . . . 50 to 1 Portuguese East Africa . . 83 to 1 Belgian Congo . . . . . . 136 to 1 Nyasaland . . . . . . . . 480 to 1

All these countries practise racial separation, the extent differing in each case ; but only South Africa makes separation a basic policy and marks its seats in public places “For Europeans Only.” Unless there be some peculiar magic in the ratio 4 to 1, numbers do not seem to offer reason or explanation. Perhaps it is cussedness and wickedness, but I find it hard to believe that as human beings we are much worse (or better) than our neighbours.

There is considerable similarity between the United States and New Zealand in respect of the ratio of white to non-white, the proportion of the Non-White of mixed blood and the uneven density of the non- white population ; yet, the attitude of white to negro in America is very different from that of Pakeha to Maori in New Zealand. The difference may be due, in part, to slavery and a war of the states in the one case and the Treaty of Waitangi in the other.

A broad comparative study of many multiple societies ranging over history, economics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, but not as detailed or prolonged as pure academic research, taking note of local custom and popular opinion, might yield much useful information and bring to the problems of “race” a measure of understanding. It should gain the interest and support of Governments concerned, including South Africa, and be a sharing of experience instead of an attempt to sit in judgment.

But knowledge, like patriotism, is not enough. It is urgently im- portant that the Christian conscience should be acutely sensitive to the human hurt involved in situations of racial separation and that Christ- ian witness should be constantly in evidence. Here again: scoldings do little good and angry sermons preached in London or New York about the wickedness of South Africa do positive harm.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 46 1

Fifteen months ago the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa called a conference of the Protestant Churches that was widely sup- ported by Afrikaans and English, white and black. The Conference reached unanimity on a number of resolutions, notably this:

“The Conference calls on all Christian persons to regard and treat every human being with the honour and respect to which we are committed as Christians, and to use every available opportunity to come into real Christian fellowship with one another.” We can confer and come to good conclusions. But how can we

make them effective in the life of the Church and the people? There is need for churches in multi-racial countries to share their

experiences, particularly in respect of corporate worship. Are inter- racial congregations normal or exceptional? How far is there separa- tion in the Church in respect of work and membership? Where there is separation is this necessary on practical grounds; how far is it a reflection of the separation in the world outside ; how far is it a custom that has become entrenched ?

When, as in Africa, the Church comes into contact with a tribal society that still functions, is it able to ful6l as well as to destroy ? Has it been able to replace the tribe by offering the person security and a sense of belonging ?

When the Church brings a man to forsake the tribal ways, the super- stitions, the taboos, and sets him adrift in perilous seas does it also offer a haven ? Does the Church become for him a society, a community, a fellowship to which he belongs and which belongs to him? We have much still to learn as to the way by which the Church in a multi-racial society can become not only multi-racial, but also a Church that knows no race nor nation, no class nor tribe nor caste, but only individual men and women and their need of God.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

bY LUTHER A. WEIGLE

The World Council of Christian Education and Sunday School Associ- ation is a federation of some sixty national associations or councils concerned with Christian education. Dating from the first World Sunday